edited by
Kenneth James Bacon
creative director BOXOFFICE Media
January 2010
The Boxofﬁce Story
By Joan Baer
from the July 20, 1970 issue of BOXOFFICE
I
t was January 31, 1920, when 18-year-old Ben Shlyen, fresh out of high school and a motion picture “veteran” since his grade school d...

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lier, feeling that his publication’s service could be enhanced by taking a personal hand in theatre operation, he bought the Maple Theatre, a 600-seat neighborhood house, and learned ﬁrst-hand the problems of the exhibitor. He gained additional background and knowl...

enough to convince him he needed The Reel Journal for the next two decades, at least. He sent a check to cover a 20-year subscription.
Soon the young publisher opened an ofﬁce in St. Louis, marking the ﬁrst of many expansions. Editorially, he began his campaign urging exhibitors to assume leadi...

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every exchange center suffered a setback in the early ’20s when Ben discovered that others had beaten him to the punch. But those were the days of mergers in the industry and the number of distribution companies and franchise holders dwindled rapidly as the big com...

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ued to shrink and regional publishers lost
faith in their ventures. They bombarded
The Reel Journal with offers to sell. The
Reel Journal was willing to buy, but the
publisher didn’t have the cash.
By now, Ben had decided to acquire the other papers himself an...

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Publications became a corporate entity, with the ﬁrst issue of the Associated Film Group off the press on August 13, 1927, and with New York, Chicago and Hollywood ofﬁces a reality. The six regionals and The Reel Journal had a circulation of 9,000, covering 17 stat...

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at the invitation of Canadian industry
interests.
Editorially, Boxoffice has championed unity within the industry. It has called for the highest type of citizenship in the operation of community theatres. It has urged the industry to settle disputes through co...